


Here Among the Ninjas

by Kanako_Hime



Series: If I Stay [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Akatsuki fan, Ariana Oswald - Freeform, Ariana can't ninja, Awkward Uchihas, Babies, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Chores, Cuddles, Cute Uzumaki Naruto, Every Day is an Adventure, Fluff and Angst, Mothering, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Raining Men, Reluctant Damsel, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, guidelines, messing with the timeline, part-time jobs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-14 03:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9157750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanako_Hime/pseuds/Kanako_Hime
Summary: In hindsight, it was obvious something was up. But it was way too surreal for her brain to process at the time. Years later, she was able to come to a semi-rational explanation, once she'd had the time to just stop and think. But that was a long way off. For the moment, let's just make it all perfectly clear: No-one just randomly falls into another world.





	1. Prologue

In hindsight, Ariana supposed it was obvious something was up. The day had been just a little too normal. Add to the fact that she was a suspicious bitch by nature and yeah, it was glaringly obvious. But it was way too surreal for her brain to process at the time. Years later, she was able to come to a semi-rational explanation, once she'd had the time to just stop and think. But that was a long way off.

For the moment, let's just make it all perfectly clear: No-one just randomly falls into another world. It doesn't happen. Or as far as Ariana thought, it didn't. Until, of course, the unthinkable happened to _her_. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once. But she wasn't anywhere special when it happened. She was in the library, studying for an upcoming test. Or trying to. The group of friends she was with were distracting and testing the limits of her patience.

"Guys, would you shut up?" she hissed eventually, jabbing her pen into the nearest arm she could find - Ruben's, their resident tech-geek. "I don't want to get kicked out just because someone got lucky last night."

"Kill-joy."

"Wanker." Azure eyes flickered around the table. "Where's Scarlet O' Hara gone?"

"Gone to get a reference book for that project of hers," Dean shrugged. "And she doesn't like it when you call her that."

"There are worse things," Ariana replied curtly, pushing her chair back. She spent a few moments glancing around and eventually spotted that eye-catching hair her friend had a love-hate relationship with. "I'll be back in a few." Silently, the blonde meandered over to her friend who was seemingly absorbed in the book she held in her hands. Looks were often very deceiving with the redhead.

"Yo," she murmured as she leaned against the bookshelf the redhead was currently perusing. "Was Dean getting on your nerves again?"

"Was he ever," Rosalie sighed, turning the page as Ariana fiddled with a lock of her hair.

"You _did_ break up with him, right?"

"That's the problem. My parents thought he was the next boy wonder and he doesn't get the meaning of the word 'over'."

"Oh goodie. Why do we let him hang out with us again?"

"Because he's rich."

"Oh yeah."

"And he's Ruben's friend."

"Damn. I knew that techie was our weakness."

"Hey guys, the library's closing up," Faye piped up, poking her head around the corner. "Pack up and we'll go get some ice-cream."

"Gotcha," the blonde sighed, poking her friend in the head. "Oi. Move your arse."

"Fine, fine." A pale hand swatted Ariana's fingers away. "Get my stuff and I'll check this out."

"Okie-dokie," she mock-bowed, turning and making her way back to their studying group. While she'd been gone, someone had drawn penises all over her notes. Lovely. She gathered up her materials and stuffed them in her bag with her laptop, whacking the boys over the head before cleaning up Rose's things. Right on cue, the red-head herself showed up, looking a bit pissed.

"You on your period?" Ruben asked in that blunt way of his. Ariana smacked him over the head, sighing.

"This is why you're still single," she murmured, handing Rose her bag. "Come on, let's move." Aside to Rose, "Your library card is in your purse. Let's check out your books and go." Promising to meet their friends at the entrance, the two girls made their way back to the librarian's desk, which was _sans_ the librarian. "Great, a game of find-the-librarian," Ariana snarked. "Was she pissed that you forgot your card? Again?"

"Don't look at me, I did nothing. I'm as innocent as a newborn lamb," Rose drawled. The blonde snorted.

"What a pile of shit that was."

Rosalie merely shrugged. "Shall we split up then? Faster we find her, faster we leave."

"Fine. You take the floor and I'll duck upstairs," she replied briskly.

"What about the basement?"

"Flooded."

"Dang," Rose muttered. "Fine, I'll check down here, though I doubt if she's down here that she'll be all that pleased to see me first. Not that I did anything," she amended.

"Yadda yadda, just search," Ariana snapped, moving towards the stairs, "I'm tired and I want my ice-cream."

"But that means I'd have to see Dean faster," she grumbled. "No good yellow-belly, piece of turd..." Rosalie trailed of, mumbling under her breath.

"Suck it up, buttercup," she snarked, turning away and climbing the stairs. She'd just had it with the day and she wanted her frozen treat before she'd have to subject herself to more cramming.

 _Why did I decide to apply for one of the pickiest colleges on the planet?_ she wondered absently, opening up the door nearest her and peering inside. _Oh yeah. Because it made mum happy...damn, I'm a sucker._

After about a minute or so, Rose came up to join her, both of them peeking into the numerous rooms that the second floor had to offer. Eventually, only one room remained.

"She _would_ be in the restricted materials room," Ariana groaned.

"I swear she's harder to find than a needle in a haystack." Rose mused, tugging on her hair. Ariana pushed open the door and turned on the light. Rows upon rows of neatly filed books greeted their eyes, but there was no sign of their missing quarry. _Fucking typical._ Rose let out a low whistle.

"Dang. Wonder why this place is restricted. Not like there's books that scream, or bound with human skin or written in blood or anything in here.

"Bad reference," Ariana deadpanned. "And for your information, this is where the old books are stored. The ones that can't leave the library."

"Then why wasn't the door more secure? And wouldn't some of these be in, I dunno, maybe glass or temperature controlled cases?" Rose pointed out.

Ariana snorted, wandering down one of the aisles. "Those aren't in here. They're in the basement. You see the problem?"

"Yeah... Those poor books," Rose murmured, wandering down another aisle. "Doesn't look like anyone's been in here for years." She coughed slightly as she disturbed some dust.

"Probably not," she agreed, scanning some of the titles. " _Oooh_ , hello there..." she cooed, picking up a leather-bound book.

"What'd you find?" Rose called, her voice a bit farther away towards the darker aisles.

"Dracula, first-edition, signed by the man himself!" she called back. "Damn, I want this..." With a sigh, she slipped it back onto the shelf. "Rose? Where'd you go?

"I don't know! There's some really old books back here. Like really old. And it's super dusty and dark back here. Try the very back! I wasn't paying attention to the turns! I think I found another room."

"'I don't know', she says," Ariana muttered. "'There's books', she says. Very helpful." She heard a thud and she jumped. "Dammit Rose, what did you break!?" she yelled.

"I didn't break nothing!" She yelled back. "I was trying to find a light switch and a book fell on my head! I didn't touch anything!"

"Damn idiot," she huffed, moving through the aisles. "Is it damaged?"

"Oh, how sweet of you to care if my head cracked open," Rose's voice drawled. "No, it's not damaged."

"Your head is thick enough; I'm sure you'll live."

"Bitch," Rose snapped, no real malice in her voice.

"Fucking bite me."

"No thanks. You probably taste terrible. Found the light switch! Ugh, it's even dustier in here. Ari, did you know this was back here?"

" _Yes_ , but get the heck out of there and stop tripping over shit," Ariana groaned. "There was a 'Private' sign on the door for a reason."

"But you gotta see this!" Rose poked her head out.

"I couldn't care less if the resurrected Jesus was back there, get out."

"Then what do I do with this?" Rose held up a cloth-bound book that looked rather old, but seemed to be in good condition.

Ariana groaned again, dropping her face into her hands. "You put it back. Duh."

"Don't give me that. I tried."

"Then if you knew, why did you ask?" the blonde snapped. "Put it on a table or something and let's go!"

"Because there's only one shelf in here and there's no space for it on the shelves, like it wasn't on there in the first place." Rose explained.

"Table. Now."

Rose rolled her eyes and put it gently on the one small table in the room before turning to follow her friend out. She turned when there was a thump and found the book on the floor. Ariana groaned.

"Seriously?"

"I put the damn thing on the desk. Dead centre." Rose picked the book up again and placed it in the middle of the table.

There was an incredible pressure the second the book left her fingertips, so sharp and sudden that the two girls couldn't breathe. Rose pressed her hands to her throat as Ariana frantically tried to pull out her inhaler. The book opened with a crash, the pages flipping past in an invisible gust before they began to tear, growing larger and larger until an enormous hole had formed where the book had sat.

Of course, it didn't end there.

Air whooshed past, sucking papers, books, anything that wasn't firmly tied down into the hole. In a matter of seconds, that included the two girls.

The first thing Ariana noticed was that she was basically caught in the middle of a hurricane, spinning wildly through the stars, the debris from the library and Rose flying around with her. _Space hurricane. Go figure._ The second thing she noticed was that everything fucking HURT. From the corner of her eye, she saw Rose reaching out a hand to her, that damn book tucked under her arm. Ariana mirrored her, stretching out until their fingers were just about touching when the third thing happened.

A big, blue, motherfucking _POLICE BOX_ soared into them, sending the pair spinning in different directions. Rose disappeared from her sight (did she get _eaten_? And if so, by what? This day sucked!) and Ariana was flung into a large red-ish coloured pool, emerging on the other side (not in a pond) somewhere above a tree. Of course, she screamed on the way down. Quite luckily for her, she'd landed on a large springy bush of some kind. Not so luckily, a shower of books rained down from above; several of them hitting her.

And that was how it all began.


	2. Hey there, Grandad

The first thing Ariana did once her head stopped spinning was to attempt to turn the air blue with her swearing. Having failed that, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and winced. The whole 'space-hurricane' thing had really hurt; she could literally feel the bruises forming. Then she slowly climbed out of the bush that had most likely saved her life and started picking the debris out of its leafy clutches.

Her bag. The contents were now mostly useless; she doubted she'd need her calculus homework anytime soon.

Her thankfully undamaged laptop with its charger and external hard-drive. Thank God.

Some library books.

Her purse and phone.

Once that task had been completed, she sat at the base of a tree, hugging her belongings to her chest. She was injured, alone, petrified and in complete shock. She may have started crying. A pair of sandaled feet stopped in front of her as she was scrubbing at her eyes.

"Are you all right?" a quiet voice asked, the faintest note of concern lurking somewhere. Ariana glanced up slowly and found herself staring into the familiar face of Uchiha Itachi, S-Ranked Missing Nin.

_Holy shit._ ** _HOLY. SHIT_ ** _. I'm in the_ ** _NARUTO-UNIVERSE_ ** _._

"No. I'm lost, can you help me?" she tried, confusion confirmed when the Uchiha quirked his head at her.

But hold the phone. People in the Narutoverse spoke Japanese, not English. How did that kind of thing happen? And then she twigged it. She understood  _basic_  Japanese. He'd spoken in Japanese and she'd answered in English. God, she was stupid. He spoke to her again, unfortunately going beyond her rather shaky understanding of the language. She caught a few words; lost, Uchiha, name, Konoha, and kid.

She bristled at that. She was nearly nineteen, for God's sake.

"Ariana," she said slowly, pointing at herself. "I'm lost...long way from home."

And he was off again, rambling away in Japanese so fast it made her head spin. After a moment of her staring at him blankly, he sighed and pulled her up from her little nook, swinging her into his arms. She squealed and then groaned when the jostling hurt her ribs. She clutched her belongings tightly, her mind moving sluggishly. Eventually they arrived at the Hokage building, and Ariana's brain decided to wake up.

_So_ _...Itachi's still in Konoha? Then the massacre hasn't happened yet? Oh my god, Itachi's_ _carrying_ _me. I can't even...dammit,_ ** _focus_** _! Who's the Hokage? Minato? Or is it Hiruzen? God, I hope it's Minato. Hiruzen reminds me too much of Grandad; I can't lie to that face...but_ this _? This is damn insane! I'll be locked up in a loony ward for the rest of my days...unless I can pull off an innocent act? But what if they get a Yamanaka to do a mind-rape on me? I'll be screwed!_

Itachi set her down and knocked on the door. A male voice answered and the Uchiha went inside, pulling Ariana along with him and sitting her on the floor. She didn't even have to look up.

_Grandad_ _. Shit. How's this going to work?_

The two males were talking, Itachi gesturing at her while the Hokage sat, smoking his pipe and studying her thoughtfully. An ANBU flickered into existence in front of her and after receiving orders (and scaring the shit out of her), flickered away, returning within minutes with Daddy Uchiha himself in tow.

_Fugaku. Fuck, shit, balls and cock._

Her panic doubled when Daddy turned on her, the Sharingan flickering to life. Not good. Not good at all. She was vaguely aware of a hand on her shoulder, another tapping her face as she stared wide-eyed and unseeing at the carpet.

_Well...isn't this lovely...I'm only about to get mind-raped by Fugaku...No biggie._

And then Itachi was in front of her, forcing her to look at him, focus on him, listen to him.

"Daijōbu."

Okay.  _That_  word, she most definitely knew. She took a deep breath and slowly released it, smiling weakly at the Uchiha teen.

"Hai. Arigato."

His father approached again and she tensed as Itachi moved away. Fugaku put a finger on each of her temples as the Mangekyō replaced the tomoe pattern. Next thing she knew, the Japanese around her had changed to English.

"Ariana-san? Can you understand us now?" Hiruzen questioned from his desk.

"Oh, uh, hai?" She blinked as Fugaku moved away rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What...exactly happened there?"

"I copied my language abilities into your head," the man himself grunted. Blunt. Simple. To the point. Why didn't she like this guy again? Oh yeah. The whole coup-dé-tat shit.

"Huh."

"What were you doing wandering around on your own?" Hiruzen asked, threading his fingers together. "Your parents must be worried."

"My-"  _Seriously? Did he just go there?_

"They're always like that at that age," Fugaku said dismissively. "Damn kids. How old are you? Eight? Nine?"

"Uh..." She was seriously confused. Of course, that didn't stop the smart-ass in her from piping up. "Physically or mentally?"

Wow, the distain coming off of that guy was palpable. "Very clever." Aside- "Hokage-sama, she doesn't have a chakra system."

"Eh?" That sparked an interest. Ariana, frankly, didn't care. She was rummaging in her bag for her mirror, pulling it out and staring in silent shock at her reflection. The chubby cheeks. That stupid haircut she'd given herself when she was nine. The fact that her clothes were hanging off of her.

_Dear sweet God, I'm a kid. AGAIN. One puberty sucked, why do I have to do it again?! And I don't have a chakra system? Fantastic. I'm a sitting duck. Quack-quack, motherfuckers._

"Back to the question," Hiruzen interjected into her musings. "How old are you, Ari-chan?"

She flinched.  _The '-chan' has begun._ "Nearly ten, Hokage-sama," she answered sullenly.

"Why don't you have a chakra system?"

"Because I've never had to use chakra; I don't need it," she explained, shrugging. "And I wanted to be a special little snowflake."

"That isn't possible," Fugaku huffed, crossing his arms.

"I did too want to be a snowflake," Ariana defended herself, pouting. Itachi rolled his eyes from his corner of the room.

"My otou-san meant your lack of a chakra system, Ariana-san," the boy explained. The blonde huffed.

"Yeah, well, where I come from, we don't have chakra," she frowned, crossing her arms. "We don't need it, either."

"A land with no chakra?" Hiruzen repeated with curiousity. "Where-"

"Oh  _hell_  no," Ariana snapped, pushing herself to stand. "I'm not going to tell you where I live.  _Seriously_? That's handing out the death sentence to all those people like it's candy!"

The Hokage's lips twitched. "Fair point." He examined her again. "You're not a kunoichi."

"Nope."

"Do you wish to become one?"

"Hell no. I'm enough of a klutz as it is; I don't want to stab myself with a kunai if I trip. Besides, the no-chakra thing would probably get me killed if I went on a mission. Which would be a bit of a pain, really."

"Indeed," Hiruzen said dryly, exchanging a glance with a thoroughly baffled Uchiha Daddy. "Itachi-kun, would you mind showing Ari-chan around the Village?"

"Hai." The Uchiha jerked his head at her. "Come on."

* * *

Now, she was currently wandering the streets of Konoha, a cloud of Uchiha-angst by her elbow as they manoeuvred through the afternoon crowds. Ariana was fighting the urge to take out her phone and take a shit-ton of pictures. It was a dream come true. Well, minus the angsty Uchiha, but she could logically see it from Hiruzen's point of view. Itachi was a skilled shinobi, more than capable of protecting (or dispatching) her if the situation called for it. She paused, looking down at her bare feet (her shoes were way too big for her now. And her pants. Thank god for shirts.) as she thought. That was kind of scary, in a way. She was trusting a  _ten year old_ with her life; said ten year old could snuff it out in a second, if he wanted. It was insane.

"Ariana-san?" her escort asked. She looked up and smiled.

"Sorry. I'm a bit of a feather-head," she explained. "I get distracted easily."

And speaking of distractions...

A little blonde boy was standing a few yards away. Ariana's breath was taken away at the  _adorable_  sight of chibi-Naruto. Dear god, she wanted to hug him. And then she saw them. Four adult men moving towards the small child, nothing innocent about it. Big blue eyes were wide with fear.

_How could that stupid fucking Hokage just let this_ ** _happen_ ** _? He's a kid!_

She ran, closing the distance between her and a child that couldn't have been any older than six and basically becoming said kid's meat shield.

"Oi, oi, move along 'jou-chan-"

"Piss off, you wanker," she snarled. "Hands off the kid."

Before any of the men could move, Itachi had appeared in front of her, face impassive and stance alert.

"You heard her," he said mildly, Sharingan whirling to life. "Go away."

The men yelped and very quickly vacated the area. Itachi sighed as Ariana turned to smile down at the child beside her. Understandably, he looked a little nervous of her.

"Hi there! My name's Ariana. I'm new here. What's your name?" she asked, holding out her hand. The kid stared before going pink.

"N-Naruto," he mumbled, shaking her hand gingerly. Her inner fangirl was dying of the cuteness overload.

"Ariana-san." Damn, she'd forgotten the Uchiha. She winced before smiling again.

"And this is Itachi-kun. Naruto-kun, it's very nice to meet you," she grinned, patting the top of his little head. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, hai." He scuffed his sandals on the ground. "Arigato."

She squealed that time. "You're very welcome!"

"Ariana-san." She sighed.

" _What?_ " she griped, turning around to face the Uchiha.

"We need to return to the Hokage."

"Jiji?" the child piped up. "I know where he is."

"Do you?" Ariana grinned. "Would you mind showing me the way? Itachi here-" she poked the Uchiha in the forehead. "Walks too fast for me."

"S-Sure!" the child replied with a shy smile. Smiling back, Ariana held out a hand to him and after a moment, Naruto took it, tiny fingers latching onto her own quite firmly as he led the way back to the Hokage tower.

"That was dangerous," Itachi murmured as they walked.

"Poking your forehead?" He stared at her and she shrugged. "Look, what was I supposed to do? Let it happen?" she asked defiantly. "He's a child, Itachi. Hurting a child is wrong. Full stop."

"You're a child," he pointed out. She frowned and poked him in the forehead.

"So're you," she retorted, sticking her tongue out when he rubbed the spot she'd poked him, frowning slightly. "Hey, Itachi, do you know any place that I could stay? I'm looking for a place to live at the moment."  _If the Hokage lets me stay. Frack._

"You're a child, they won't let you live on your own unless you can take care of yourself," he replied smoothly. She frowned.

"Bite me, brat."

* * *

When they had arrived back, Fugaku had disappeared and the Hokage looked surprised at the young child that had attached himself to Ariana's sleeve.

"I see you've met Naruto-kun," he commented as Naruto detached himself and snuggled right into the Hokage's lap, getting a small pat to the head and a smile before sharp brown eyes focused on Ariana again.

"What can I say? I like kids," she said with a shrug, grinning at the small child who'd pilfered (she assumed) Hiruzen's cache of sweets (from where, she did not know. Hokages were mysterious like that) and was stuffing his face with them.

"Hm." He eyed her for a moment before his face smoothed out into a mask of bland politeness. "Well, Ari-chan, I'd like to spend more time on this, but I'm really quite busy at the moment. If you could report here tomorrow morning, I should be able to think up a solution that should satisfy all parties."

"Oh, uh, sure," the blonde girl offered with a smile. "I did have a question, though, if that's okay?"

"Fire away."

"Is there some place I could sleep tonight? I don't really fancy sleeping on a bench, to be honest."

"Oh." Apparently, Hiruzen hadn't thought of that as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose for tonight you could stay with Dan-"

"She can stay with me!" Naruto chirped. Hiruzen's pipe landed with a loud clack on the floor - along with his jaw.

"Um, Naruto-kun, are you sure-"

"Sure! I mean-" he glanced innocently up at Hiruzen. "If that's okay with Jii-chan's friend."

Considering his 'friend' was most likely Danzo (and she'd much rather drink her own piss then spend five minutes with the man, let alone a full night), Ariana leapt at the offer, dragging the small child from the Hokage's lap and out the door before the Hokage could protest. He sighed after a few dumb-struck moments and glanced across at the still-remaining Itachi.

"She does that," the preteen offered. The Hokage wanted to facepalm. But he didn't. Hokage's don't facepalm. At least not in public.

He still wanted to facepalm, though.

* * *

The next morning found Ariana back inside the Hokage's office, yawning and rubbing her eyes as his assistants laid out the paperwork for the day and he signed some documents before they sped off and they were left alone.

"Good morning, Ari-chan," he greeted, leaning back and cleaning out his pipe.

"'Kage-sama," she muttered in reply, rubbing her face.

"I've been thinking about several possibilities for you, but first-" he started stuffing tobacco into the pipe. "I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter."

Oh. That was surprising. Or perhaps it wasn't. Hiruzen seemed the kind of guy who liked other's opinions before giving his own.

"Well, I'm just as confused as you are, Hokage-sama," Ariana replied honestly after a few moments' thought. "One minute I was with my friend and then the next, I woke up here."

"You were kidnapped?"

"I guess so."

"Did you see who your assailants were?"

_A giant space-hurricane and a police box._

"Not a person around, sir."

"Hmm." He stuck a match and lit the tobacco. "Would you like to go home?"

"Would I? Yes. But as to if I can go home - I don't think I can, no."

"Oh?" Now he was curious. "Why not?"

_Oh jeebus._

"My homeland...it's really far away. To be quite honest, I didn't think this place existed outside stories. Fairytales, you know, like castles in the sky and stuff."

"Indeed."

Deciding to bite the bullet (well, partially) she knelt and bowed deeply, her hands shaking.

"Please, Hokage-sama, let me stay. I'm a smartass kid and I haven't the first clue how to defend myself from a bumble bee, let alone someone who wants to hurt me. I'll do anything, I swear, just - let me _stay_ ," she gabbled, feeling tears prick at the corner of her eyes as she wondered what the heck she'd do if he said no.

Long minutes went by. Ariana stayed where she was, her hands shaking and tears spotting the tatami mat beneath her. Eventually, she heard a long sigh.

"As you wish, Ari-chan." Her head snapped up, even as he held up a finger. "However, there's a few conditions."

"Sure!" she said excitedly as she straightened. Hiruzen could have his conditions.

_She could stay in Konoha!_


End file.
